Pope Francis asked to listen to the voice of “the people who ask for peace”

• During the Angelus prayer, the Supreme Pontiff called on people not to forget countries in conflict

Pope Francis called for the voice of those calling for peace to be heard and regretted that “tensions are very high on the war fronts,” in a new appeal on Sunday, September 22, after the Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace.

“We continue to pray for peace. Unfortunately, tensions are very high on the war fronts. Let the voices of the people who ask for peace be heard,” said the Supreme Pontiff.

He also urged not to forget “the martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar and so many countries that are at war. Let us pray for peace,” he added.

Francis made this appeal after Israel consolidated a second front in its war with its daily attacks in the north against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and is continuing its offensive in the south against Hamas in Gaza, where the death toll has already exceeded 41,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

During the Angelus, the Pope lamented: “How many people suffer and die because of power struggles! These are lives that the world rejects, just as it rejected Jesus when he was handed over to men. He did not find an embrace, but a cross.”

Countries in conflict

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert warned on September 22 that the Middle East is “on the brink of an imminent catastrophe” following the recent escalation of violence between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

“With the region on the brink of imminent catastrophe, it cannot be stressed enough: There is no military solution that will bring any security to either side,” she said in a statement posted on the official X account of the UN mission in Lebanon.

Hennis-Plasschaert expressed concern after Israel carried out a bombing raid on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday, September 20, killing at least 45 people, including more than a dozen senior Hezbollah officials such as Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wahbi, who led operations for the group’s elite Radwan Forces.

On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on September 22 that Russia launched 900 guided aerial bombs, 400 Shahed-type kamikaze drones and almost 30 missiles of various types against Ukraine over the past week.

Ukraine has responded to these attacks with increasing frequency and effectiveness by launching massive numbers of its own drones against Russian territory, often hitting military and oil industry infrastructure.

Other calls for peace

Human Rights Watch warned ahead of the 2024 UN High-Level Week that world leaders need to seize the opportunity to take action in a world “overwhelmed by human rights crises.”

“The world is overwhelmed by human rights crises, but leaders often fail to take advantage of the tools they have to pressure governments to end human rights violations,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director of Human Rights Watch, in a statement released on September 21.

The main topics to be addressed in the debates include the war in Gaza – and its escalation into Lebanon with attacks between the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and Israel – the conflicts in Sudan, Ukraine, Haiti, Myanmar and Afghanistan, as well as the post-election crisis in Venezuela. Bilateral meetings, forums and side events will take place between 22 and 30 September at the UN headquarters in New York.

Photo: EFE

The Pope on Venezuela

The Pope invited on September 13th “dialogue” and “make peace” in Venezuela and added that “dictatorships are useless and sooner or later they end badly,” when asked what message he would give to that country in the current situation, after the elections, at the press conference on the plane returning from his tour of Asia and Oceania.

In any case, Francis was cautious in his response, saying that he had not been following the situation in recent days.

“The message I give to the rulers is to dialogue and make peace,” he replied, before adding: “Dictatorships are useless and end badly sooner or later.”

He also reiterated his call for “people to do everything to find a path to peace in Venezuela.”

“I cannot give a political opinion because I do not know the details, but I know that the bishops have spoken and their message is the one that counts,” he added.

Venezuelan bishops have repeatedly asked President Nicolás Maduro to show the electoral records because “ignoring popular sovereignty expressed through voting is morally unacceptable, as it seriously deviates from truth and justice.”

With information from EFE

Related news